Some of you may have noticed that there are some patterns of Japanese onomatopoeias.

According to the book I’ve read recently, one of the most common type onomatopoeias "ABAB” has been used from Nara Era(8C)．(e.g.; さやさや、ゆらゆら、うらうら)

People started to use another common type onomatopoeias “AッB リ” in Kamakura(12C-) or Muromachi(16C-)Era. You can see some of them on this post.In Kamakura Era or Muromachi Era, an ”AッBラ” type onomatopoeias emerged, but it was gradually integrated into “A ッB リ”. (e.g.; しっとら →しっとり、うっとら→うっとり、さっくら→さっくり).

Also “AッB” (e.g.;ざっく、うっと), and “AンB” (e.g.; むんず、ざんぶ) types of onomatopoeias were also used in the same era. However, many of them were transformed into “AッB リ”(e.g.;ざっくり、うっとり) and “AンB リ” (e.g.; ざんぶり) later.

I've always liked the Japanese Onomatopoeia, but they are really hard to remember, especially for foreign speakers.

Chad mullane did a 7-part comedy series on Onomatopoeia(Link broken, see 3 posts down) that's pretty funny. They actually helped me remember a lot of small differences, like between Pokki and Bokki. =)